Recap: Canes' Season Comes To An End In Florida

SUNRISE, FL. -The Carolina Hurricanes' 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs run came to a close on Wednesday, falling 4-3 to the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of their conference finals series.

The Story

With their season on the line, the Canes entered the evening in search of offense after
being blanked in Game 3
. Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky entered the night with 132 saves on 135 shots thus far, the most stops by a netminder through the first three games of a series in NHL history.
But when the puck dropped, things went south quickly for Carolina.
Just 41 seconds in, Florida had taken the game's first lead, and moments later Jaccob Slavin was forced out of the game after being on the receiving end of a punishing hit from Sam Bennett.
The Panthers would tack on a power play goal just past the midway mark in the first period and it was hard not to feel like the game couldn't end soon enough for Rod Brind'Amour's club.
Instead, the group showed some of their patented resiliency in return.
Paul Stastny was able to cut the hole to just one before the end of the first period, putting a puck legally behind Bobrovsky for the first time in 131+ minutes of play.

Then, just 2:51 into the second, Teuvo Teravainen tied the contest.
His first point since returning from a broken hand to start the series, #86 made it feel like a new game momentarily.
Andersen was upholding his end of the bargain behind the group, making a slew of timely stops in the tied contest.
However, a turnover in their own end would lead to Florida reclaiming the lead. Ryan Lomberg completed a pretty passing play, giving the home side a 3-2 advantage, one that they would take to the final stanza of regulation.
Carolina put together a third-period push though, not willing to roll over despite the deficit. Putting 13 pucks onto Bobrovsky before the final horn, Jesper Fast actually found a game-tying goal for the Canes with just 3:32 on the clock.

Bringing about the sense that a third overtime in four games would be necessary, that would instead turn out to not be the case.
Jordan Staal was called for tripping in the offensive zone with just 57 seconds remaining, sending Florida to a late-game power play.
And with just 4.9 seconds on the clock, they'd bury the final goal of the series.
Playing hero for the third time in the series, Matthew Tkachuk tucked one past Andersen, sending the home crowd into jubilation and advancing the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Final.

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They Said It

Rod Brind'Amourat the podium after the final horn...
"The unfortunate part is that everyone is going to look back and say that we got swept... We were right there and this could have gone the other way... They played hard. I think we took huge steps (forward) this year. Coming this far with the pieces that we're missing is pretty impressive."
Jordan Staaloffering this thoughts post-game...
"We gave it all we had. We worked hard until the very end. I'm proud of this group. We've been kicked in the crotch all year and we kept pressing and kept pushing. Tonight was no different. Unfortunately we came up short again against this team, but we're going to learn from this and this core group is going to find a way to get to the end."
Sebastian Ahoexpressing some of his emotions on the team's season coming to an end...
"It sucks. It's almost confusing. Like, what just happened? It's tough. It's tough to give a good answer right now."

Bonus Notes

What's Next?

The Canes will announce information and hold end-of-season media availabilities in the coming days.
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